Art is one of the few markets to have resisted migration online, but there are signs this is now changing. Among them the rapid growth of Artlogic, the London-based technology company that designs and builds databases and websites for galleries, collectors and artists.
This month, the firm is announcing its formal expansion in the US, adding Marian Goodman, Gagosian, Paul Kasmin, Elizabeth Dee, the Marciano Art Foundation and Jackson Fine Art to its burgeoning roster of clients. The Artlogic team is also relaunching the British artist Isaac Julien’s website this autumn (the company works with an impressive list of artists including Peter Doig, Brigit Riley, Idris Khan and Ian Davenport).
The decision to expand is “really about timing”, explains David Hooper, who together with Peter Chater co-founded Artlogic as a limited company in 1999–at a time when the art world had only just moved on from typewriters. “The needs of the art market have changed,” Hooper says. “Galleries have become more mobile, evolving from a bricks-and-mortar exhibition programme with more emphasis on art fairs, collaborations, and public art.”
When the first online version of Artlogic was launched 11 years ago, Hooper says it was still quite difficult to get galleries to share their data. But in the past two years the company has doubled its clients, a clear sign of the increasing trust in online platforms.
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